The Liberty Papers

It seems that several Virginia legislators are seeking to have Neal Boortz removed from the air in Blacksburg, Virginia due to comments he made about the Virginia Tech massacre:

Scott Stevens knew Neal Boortz was a “hate monger.” But he had only received a single, generic complaint about Boortz’s remarks regarding the shootings at Virginia Tech. Now, Stevens says WFNR AM 710 in Pulaski will strongly consider pulling Boortz, a nationally syndicated talk show host, from their 10 a.m.-12 p.m. time slot after being made aware of the severity of Boortz’s remarks by a letter from Virginia delegates.

Two weeks ago, Boortz criticized the victims of the April 16 shootings for “standing in terror waiting for (their) turn to be executed.” All eight Virginia stations that syndicate Boortz were sent a letter Monday afternoon signed by Democratic Delegates Stephen Shannon, Jim Shuler and Chuck Caputo. The letter called the radio host’s remarks “hateful” and the radio stations’ responses “disappointing and meager.”

“I feel (Virginia radio stations) have a sense of public responsibility in the immediate aftermath of this tragedy to exercise some restraint. What they did was let this broadcaster peel off outrageous assertions that somehow it was the fault of the students and the faculty members who were killed or injured…There’s simply no place for this out-of-state radio host to make such claims on Virginia’s airwaves immediately after this tragedy has taken place,” Shannon said.

(….)

“The ultimate goal is to have them sit down and reconsider the wisdom of allowing this particular radio host to assert outrageous claims, and in the future perhaps they would have some protocols so they would not turn a blind eye to use of the airwaves immediately after a tragedy in such a hurtful manner,” Shannon said.

If WFNR decided on it’s own to stop carrying Boortz’s show, or to impose a punishment on him in some other way, they are, of course, perfectly within their rights to do so. What’s disturbing here, though, is the fact that they are being prompted to do anything all solely due to the “urging” of a group of state legislators. Other than their letter, the station had only received one complaint — and if any station in America that air’s the show would’ve been expected to receive complaints, it would have been the one in Blacksburg where the tragedy occurred.

If the only people complaining are politicians, then where’s the problem here ?

H/T: Hit&Run